Career Advice by Usha Albuquerque: Options After Microbiology, Jewellery Designing, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

About MICROBIOLOGY

• Microbiology is the study of the growth, development and behaviour of micro-organisms so as to control and utilise them for the benefit of living beings.
• The range of job opportunities for microbiologists, therefore, is as diverse as the organisms they work with.
• Depending on the field of work you wish to pursue, you can choose the field of specialisation.
• Microbiologists work in laboratories and research organisations linked to hospitals, food and beverage industries, pharmaceutical companies, as well as in the field of agriculture, biotechnology, the environment and public health.
• After a degree in microbiology, you can go into careers in areas ranging from medicine, where microbiologists study the pathology of disease-causing organisms, to agriculture, where microbiologists can work in areas of plant development, plant disease and tissue culture.
• Microbiologists also work in industry, handling the development of new chemical products and processes, in waste management and environmental controls as also in the area of marine microbiology, studying the various micro-organisms from the seas that can be used for medicinal or food resources.
• Microbiologists also evaluate antibiotics and develop vaccines, and are involved in the process of drug testing and manufacture.

Here are some questions which were asked by students addressed to the career expert Usha Albuquerque:

Jewellery Design

I am pursuing a PG diploma in molecular and biochemical technology from Delhi University. I hold a BSc degree and will be appearing for the MSc entrance this year. I feel that these subjects are very exhaustive and I'm unsure whether I really want to make a career in this field. I am now thinking of changing my stream and want to take up a course in jewellery designing. Please guide me about whether it's wise to go for this switch. I want to start a business and I think it will be apt to start working for this now. Which are the eminent institutes that offer this course? Is a degree better than a diploma?

Priya Khetarpal You can surely move into jewellery design if you have a flair for sketching and designing, creativity, sense of colour and an eye for details. There are other certain personality traits that you can acquire such as being computer savvy, awareness of international fashion trends and an interest in fashion. This is a field where it is not so important which course ­ a diploma or degree ­you pursue, as long as you are able to learn the skills and develop the necessary proficiency required to be successful.

There are many institutes offering specific courses in jewellery design. These include Jewellery Product Development Centre affiliated to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and the Jewellery Design and Technology Institute at Noida.

There are several other institutes that offer courses in gemmology and jewellery design, which range in duration and intensity from two three months to one-two years. These include the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council at Jaipur , Gemmological Institute of India at Mumbai, Jewellery Product Development Centre, Mumbai, (http://www.gjepc.org/education_in tiative/jpdc_mumbai); SNDT University, Mumbai, SG Jhaveri Centre for Diamond Technology, Mumbai; and the Indian Diamond Institute at Surat.

Courses in IPR

I am a BTech student. I want to know about online courses in intellectual property rights (IPR), which I can pursue along with my BTech degree.

Anupam Mandelia IP or intellectual property is today regarded as an important and effective policy instrument relevant to a wide range of socio-economic, technological and political concerns. It is for this reason that a number of business and law schools have started specialisation courses on IP. Some of these include the Indian Institute of Patent and Trademark Attorney, Delhi, (http://www.iipta.com); BioInformatics Institute of India, Noida and Symbiosis Society's Law College, Pune. The Global Institute of Intellectual Property, Delhi, (http://www.giipinfo.com); offers post graduate diploma and certificate programmes on Indian and US patents and IP laws, processes and services. IIT Kharagpur's Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, offers a post graduate diploma in intellectual property law.

Ignou, in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organisation, is also offering a one-year post grad uate IP diploma through distance education. Details are available at (http://www.ignou.ac.in).

A one-year PG diploma course in IPR law is also being offered by National Law School of India University, Bangalore, (http://www.nls.ac.in). A certificate course in IPR was launched this year by the Confederation of Indian Industries. Called Intellectual Property Capacity, this course is meant for the industry and academia. It may not be possi ble to pursue all these courses alongside regular graduation degree courses, much will depend on your current programmes and the time you have available for serious academic study.

The Institute of Intellectual Property Rights, Mumbai, also offers a post-graduate diploma in patent law and practice and a certificate course in intellectual property. The diploma is a one-year, weekend programme while the certificate course is of four months duration.

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Source: HT Education